Clemson coach Dabo Swinney had plenty of things to say at his weekly press conference ahead of the Tigers’ upcoming home opener Saturday.
Swinney provided an injury update on his team — most notably that the Tigers had no major concerns after Week 1. That includes left guard Marcus Tate, who left Saturday’s game against top-ranked Georgia with an injury but is believed to be OK after getting “rolled up.”
“(W)e went into it very healthy and we’re coming out of it healthy,” Swinney said. “We’re in a good spot as a team, so I’m excited about that aspect of it.”
Swinney spoke of cleaning up some of the fundamental mistakes from his team’s 34-3 loss to Georgia but offered that the opponent was a big factor in some of the mistakes made.
“I think part of it is you’re playing Georgia. Playing Georgia! Pretty good!” Swinney said with emphasis. “Things get magnified, but that was elite talent on both sides. Elite talent. Not good talent, elite talent.
“When you have talent-on-talent, especially in an opener, things can get exposed and I think that’s why I was excited about that game. Because some things you can’t teach. Some things you have to experience, and our team will really grow from that experience.”
Clemson, which fell eight spots to No. 22 in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll, will have to grow in a hurry. The Tigers face Appalachian State in the their home opener Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET in Death Valley. The game can be seen on ACC Network.
Appalachian State posted 9 wins a season ago, two years after a 10-win season in 2021, and have become one of the better Group of Five schools in college football under fifth-year coach Shawn Clark.
“They’re a good football team,” Swinney said of Appalachian State. “Defensively, they’re active up front. They move everywhere. They’re not as big as the guys we just played so they’re going to be all over the place and that presents a different challenge. You’ve got to catch a lot of movement, which will be great for us because we’ll see some other teams along the way that really do a lot of what they do.”
Added Swinney: “We’re excited to have a new week and to get back at it this week, and we’re super excited to be playing right here at home. A night game in The Valley is special and we truly get seven of these days a year and this is one of them. We work all year to have these opportunities. We had a great start to the week (Monday) with our guys and it’s eyes forward on a really tough App State team.”
Here’s everything Swinney said at his weekly press conference.
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